St. Louis Blues captain says he's got to fight to stay in the league as the team struggles
The St. Louis Blues' season has hit a rough patch. They are currently on a 6 game skid, while being outscored 30-10 during that stretch. The Blues currently set dead last in the Central Division with a 3-6-0 record trailing the Arizona Coyotes by 1 point.
After their loss on Monday night to the LA Kings, General Manager Doug Armstrong took some time to meet with his teams to discuss their struggles. Armstrong reportedly expressed his expectations of the team going forward.
After the meeting with his General Manager, Captain Ryan O'Reilly quickly shouldered the blame for his team's struggles, putting the blame mostly upon himself.
It's time to figure it out. Myself, I've been absolutely horrible. I'm not really doing anything, got to fight to stay in this league. I've got to do a lot more leadership-wise... my own play. If I can do that, that will make a big difference.
Doug's message was clear. This is unacceptable, what's going on, and he's absolutely right. We all have to look inside and find our own way out of what's going on. But yeah, for myself especially, it's pretty pathetic.
O'Reilly has one goal this season and is minus-12 through nine games. His time-on-ice has dropped to 18:33 from 19:05, and his faceoff percentage has dropped to 51.9%, the lowest mark since his aged-22 2013-14 season.
Unfortunately the conversation with the General Manager didn't do anything for the Blues as they lost Thursday night to the New York Islanders 5-2. O'Reilly was also unproductive Thursday night, not providing any points and registering a -1 on the night. Things in St. Louis are reaching a critical boiling point especially if they're looking to compete for a Cup this summer.
POLL |
Will Ryan O'Reilly get into the Hall of Fame when his career is done? |
Yes, he has all the trophies to back it up | 40 | 31 % |
No, not a point per game player | 89 | 69 % |
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